Applying Tort Law to Fabricated Digital Content Michael Scott Eh Nderson
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Actual Malice Standard Unjustifiably Eliminates First Amendment Protection for Public Employees' Recklessly False Statements Lesile S
University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository Minnesota Law Review 1996 Don't Tip the Scales! The Actual Malice Standard Unjustifiably Eliminates First Amendment Protection for Public Employees' Recklessly False Statements Lesile S. Blickenstaff Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Blickenstaff, Lesile S., "Don't Tip the Scales! The Actual alM ice Standard Unjustifiably Eliminates First Amendment Protection for Public Employees' Recklessly False Statements" (1996). Minnesota Law Review. 1814. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr/1814 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Minnesota Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Minnesota Law Review collection by an authorized administrator of the Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Note Don't Tip the Scales! The Actual Malice Standard Unjustifiably Eliminates First Amendment Protection for Public Employees' Recklessly False Statements Leslie S. Blickenstaffl Susan Carter worked as a teacher in a public high school for five years.' Although she received some negative performance reviews, she had few conflicts during her tenure. Ms. Carter became suspicious, however, that school board members were using excess funds to finance their personal needs instead of to increase faculty salaries or to pay school debts. Ms. Carter researched school files and found no evidence to support her suspicions. She nonetheless confronted her supervisor, Mary Larkin, and accused the school board of embezzling money, cheating faculty out of compensation and lying to the school district and the public regarding the allocation of funds. -
False Light, Disclosure, and Outrage Torts
_ False Light, Disclosure, and Outrage Torts Eric E. Johnson ericejohnson.com Konomark Most rights sharable Some general notes about false light, disclosure, and outrage: • They are available for natural, living persons only – not for corporations • Much of defamation doctrine applies – Identification of plaintiff – Fact vs. opinion – Substantial truth (but not for disclosure) • The First Amendment can substantially limit any of these torts – State action hurdle overcome a la NYT v. Sullivan 1 _ False Light The Elements: 1. A public statement 2. Made with actual malice 3. Placing the plaintiff in a false light 4. That is highly offensive to the reasonable person False Light Defenses: • Essentially the same as for defamation • So, for example: – A public figure will have to prove actual malice.* – A private figure, if a matter of public concern, must prove actual malice or negligence + special damages.* *That is, if actual malice is not required as a prima facie element, which it generally, but not always, is. 2 _ Disclosure The Elements: 1. A public disclosure 2. Of private facts 3. That is highly offensive to the reasonable person Disclosure Defenses: • Legitimate public interest or concern – a/k/a “newsworthiness privilege” – First Amendment requires this, even if common law in a jurisdiction would not 3 _ Outrage (a/k/a Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress) The Elements: 1. Intentional or reckless conduct that is 2. Extreme and outrageous 3. Causing severe emotional distress Review Intrusion The Elements: 1. Physical or other intrusion 2. Into a zone in which the plaintiff has a reasonable expectation of privacy 3. -
Emotional Distress with a Failed Libel Claim: the Faulty Logic of Falwell V
EMOTIONAL DISTRESS WITH A FAILED LIBEL CLAIM: THE FAULTY LOGIC OF FALWELL V. FLYNT by Elizabeth M. Campbell Some degree of abuse is inseparable from the properuse of every thing, and in no instance is this more true than in that of the press. It has accordingly been decided ... that it is better to leave a few of its noxious branches to their luxuriant growth, than by pruning them away, to injure the vigor of those yielding the proper fruits. I James Madison's remark during the Constitutional debates remains the underlying principle governing the disposition of cases involving first amendment freedom of speech issues. In order to protect and encourage robust public debate -to preserve the "marketplace of ideas"--the United States Supreme Court has interpreted the language of the first amendment liberally, placing only certain limited categories of speech outside its purview and protection. Obscenity2, child pornography3, and words that incite people to riot4 are examples of speech the Court deems unprotected. The Court also excludes libelous speech from first amendment protection. Generally, the legal system embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights does not favor publication of falsities that defame or harm the reputation of others. Defamation, libel or slander is a communication that tends to harm the reputation of someone, The harm occurs when the community lowers its estimation of the defamed and the communication deters third persons from dealing or associating with him.5 Although a court finds a communication non-defamatory the plaintiff may still suffer emotional distress from the publication. The libel plaintiff may therefore opt to bring a claim for intentional infliction of emotional or mental distress. -
The Functional Music of Gail Kubik: Catalyst for the Concert Hall
The Functional Music of Gail Kubik: Catalyst for the Concert Hall Alfred W. Cochran From the late 1930s through the mid-1960s, three composers for the concert hall profoundly influenced American music and exerted a strong influence upon music in the cinema-Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), Aaron Copland (1900-90), and Gail Kubik (1914-84). Each won the Pulitzer prize in music, and two of those awards, Thomson's and Kubik's, were derived from their film scores. 1 Moreover, both Thomson and Copland earned Academy Awards for their film work. 2 All three men drew concert works from their film scores, but only Kubik used functional music as a significant progenitor for other pieces destined for the concert hall. An examination of his oeuvre shows an affinity for such transformations. More common, perhaps, was the practice of composers using ideas derived from previously composed works when writing a film score. In Kubik's case, the opposite was true; his work for radio, films, and television provided the impetus for a significant amount of his nonfunctional music, including chamber pieces and orchestral works of large and small dimension. This earned well-deserved praise, including that of Nadia Boulanger, who was Kubik's teacher and steadfast friend. Kubik was a prodigy-the youngest person to earn a full scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, its youngest graduate (completing requirements in both violin and composition), a college teacher at nineteen, the MacDowell Colony'S youngest Fellow, and the youngest student admitted to Harvard University'S doctoral program in music. In 1940, he left the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University and became staff composer and music program advisor for NBC. -
Actual Malice in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Faculty Publications 2013 Actual Malice in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Edward L. Carter Brigham Young University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub Part of the Communication Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Carter, Edward L., "Actual Malice in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights" (2013). Faculty Publications. 4799. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/4799 This Peer-Reviewed Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. ACTUAL MALICE IN THE INTER- AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS EDWARD CARTER* The Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided four cases in recent years that represent a positive step for freedom of expression in nations that belong to the Organization of American States. In 2004 and again in 2008, the court stopped short of adopting a standard that would require proof of actual malice in criminal defamation cases brought by public officials. In 2009, however, the court seemed to adopt the actual malice rule without calling it that. The court’s progress toward actual malice is chronicled in this article. The article concludes that the court’s decision not to explicitly use the phrase “actual malice” may be a positive development for freedom of expression in the Americas. Since its inception in 1979, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in San José, Costa Rica, has moved to protect freedom of expression under the American Convention on Human Rights. -
The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir
1 Murder, Mugs, Molls, Marriage: The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir Noir is a conversation rather than a single genre or style, though it does have a history, a complex of overlapping styles and typical plots, and more central directors and films. It is also a conversation about its more common philosophies, socio-economic and sexual concerns, and more expansively its social imaginaries. MacIntyre's three rival versions suggest the different ways noir can be studied. Tradition's approach explains better the failure of the other two, as will as their more limited successes. Something like the Thomist understanding of people pursuing perceived (but faulty) goods better explains the neo- Marxist (or other power/conflict) model and the self-construction model. Each is dependent upon the materials of an earlier tradition to advance its claims/interpretations. [Styles-studio versus on location; expressionist versus classical three-point lighting; low-key versus high lighting; whites/blacks versus grays; depth versus flat; theatrical versus pseudo-documentary; variety of felt threat levels—investigative; detective, procedural, etc.; basic trust in ability to restore safety and order versus various pictures of unopposable corruption to a more systemic nihilism; melodramatic vs. colder, more distant; dialogue—more or less wordy, more or less contrived, more or less realistic; musical score—how much it guides and dictates emotions; presence or absence of humor, sentiment, romance, healthy family life; narrator, narratival flashback; motives for criminality and violence-- socio- economic (expressed by criminal with or without irony), moral corruption (greed, desire for power), psychological pathology; cinematography—classical vs. -
Constitutional Limitations on the Defenses of Fair Comment and Conditional Privilege
Missouri Law Review Volume 30 Issue 3 Summer 1965 Article 5 Summer 1965 Constitutional Limitations on the Defenses of Fair Comment and Conditional Privilege James E. Taylor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation James E. Taylor, Constitutional Limitations on the Defenses of Fair Comment and Conditional Privilege, 30 MO. L. REV. (1965) Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol30/iss3/5 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at University of Missouri School of Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Missouri Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Missouri School of Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Taylor: Taylor: Constitutional Limitations 19651 COMMENTS CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS ON THE DEFENSES OF FAIR COMMENT AND CONDITIONAL PRIVILEGE New York Times Co. v. Sudlivaen I. INTRODUCTION The main purpose of this comment is to explore the effect of the United States Supreme Court's decision on the law of defamation in general, and the law of fair comment and conditional privilege in particular.2 This comment con- siders the Constitutional aspects of the Sullivan case only insofar as is necessary to explain the reasons for the court's decision. Although the case deals with public officials, and not candidates for office, because the two appear to be so analogous, and because the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press seem to be equally applicable, 'both have been considered in this article.a On March 29, 1960, a full page advertisement was carried in the New York Times entitled "Heed Their Rising Voices." The advertisement began by noting the peaceful non-violent demonstrations in which southern negro students were participating, and then described in some detail the "unprecedented wave of ter- ror" with which these demonstrations had been met. -
A Law and Norms Critique of the Constitutional Law of Defamation
PASSAPORTISBOOK 10/21/2004 7:39 PM NOTE A LAW AND NORMS CRITIQUE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF DEFAMATION Michael Passaportis* INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1986 I. COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEMS AND RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY....................................................................................... 1988 II. BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND NORMS .................................. 1990 III. ESTEEM, GOSSIP, AND FALSE GOSSIP ...................................... 1994 A. The Negative Externality of False Gossip ......................... 1995 B. Punishment of False Negative Gossip ............................... 2001 IV. THE LAW OF DEFAMATION AND ITS CONSTITUTIONALIZATION ........................................................ 2004 A. Defamation at Common Law............................................. 2005 B. The Constitutional Law of Defamation............................. 2008 V. THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF DEFAMATION AND NORMS . 2013 A. The Problem of Under-Produced Political Speech.......... 2013 B. The Actual Malice Rule and Normative Behavior ........... 2019 VI. THE COMMON LAW VERSUS SULLIVAN FROM A LAW AND ECONOMICS PERSPECTIVE......................................................... 2022 A. The Economics of Strict Liability ...................................... 2022 B. Strict Liability and Defamation.......................................... 2027 C. Was the Common Law of Defamation Efficient? ............ 2032 CONCLUSION.................................................................................... -
The Fading of False Light Invasion of Privacy
\\server05\productn\N\NYS\66-1\NYS112.txt unknown Seq: 1 12-MAY-10 8:28 TWILIGHT: THE FADING OF FALSE LIGHT INVASION OF PRIVACY ANDREW OSORIO* INTRODUCTION One hundred twenty years ago Samuel Warren and Lewis Bran- deis sowed the first seeds of America’s distinct privacy law in their groundbreaking treatise The Right to Privacy.1 Through their work, the pair argued that the common law could, and should, “protect those persons with whose affairs the community has no legitimate concern, from being dragged into an undesirable and undesired publicity and to protect all persons, whatsoever[ ] their position or station, from having matters that they may properly prefer to keep private, made public against their will.”2 Seventy years later William Prosser penned his article Privacy, wherein he differentiated and cataloged what he deemed to be the various limbs of the legal sap- ling planted by Warren and Brandeis.3 In so doing, Prosser suc- ceeded in grafting onto the law a new branch, which he termed “False Light in the Public Eye.”4 Dimly conceived, Prosser claimed that this “form of invasion of privacy . consists of publicity that places the plaintiff in a false light in the public eye.”5 Adopted by the American Law Institute (ALI) in the Restatement of Torts as “Publicity Placing Person in False Light,”6 this tort has faced near constant assault from scholars since its formal recognition.7 Just * New York University School of Law, J.D. Candidate, 2010; Pomona College, B.A., 2003. I would first like to thank Dr. -
Funny Games and the History of Hostage Noir
ANN NO STOCKS SAVAGE NO SPORTS TRIBUTE ™ ALL NOIR www.noircity.com www.filmnoirfoundation.org VOL. 4 NO. 1 CCCC**** A PUBLICATION OF THE FILM NOIR FOUNDATION BIMONTHLY 2 CENTS MARCH / APRIL 2009 BLACK AND WHITE AND READ ALL OVER IN MEMORIAM DAHL, DEADLINES ANN SAVAGE DOMINATE NC7 By Haggai Elitzur Special to the Sentinel n e l or January, San Francisco’s weather was l A . unusually warm and sunny, but the atmos- M d phere was dark and desperate indoors at the i v F a Castro Theatre, as it always is for the NOIR CITY D film festival. On this, the festival’s seventh outing, Eddie Muller and Arlene Dahl onstage at the Castro most of the selections fell into the theme of news- paper noir. tive MGM when Warner Bros. was tardy in re- upping her contract. Arlene Dahl: Down-to-Earth Diva Dahl described meeting a large group of This year’s special guest was the still-beauti- friendly stars, including Gary Cooper, on her very ful redhead Arlene Dahl, whose two 1956 features first day on the Warner Bros. lot. She also offered screened as a double bill. Wicked as They Come some brief details about her two-year involvement By Eddie Muller was a British production featuring Dahl as a social with JFK, which was set up by Joe Kennedy him- Special to the Sentinel climber seducing her way across Europe. Slightly self. It was a spellbinding interview with a great Scarlet, a Technicolor noir filmed by John Alton, star; Dahl made it clear that she loved the huge ANN SAVAGE CHANGED MY LIFE . -
Establishing Constitutional Malice for Defamation and Privacy/False Light Claims When Hidden Cameras and Deception Are Used by the Newsgatherer, 22 Loy
Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review Volume 22 Number 2 Symposium: Tune in, Turn on, Cop Article 7 Out? The Media and Social Responsibility 1-1-2002 Establishing Constitutional Malice for Defamation and Privacy/ False Light Claims When Hidden Cameras and Deception Are Used by the Newsgatherer David A. Elder Neville L. Johnson Brian A. Rishwain Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation David A. Elder, Neville L. Johnson, and Brian A. Rishwain, Establishing Constitutional Malice for Defamation and Privacy/False Light Claims When Hidden Cameras and Deception Are Used by the Newsgatherer, 22 Loy. L.A. Ent. L. Rev. 327 (2002). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr/vol22/iss2/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ESTABLISHING CONSTITUTIONAL MALICE FOR DEFAMATION AND PRIVACY/FALSE LIGHT CLAIMS WHEN HIDDEN CAMERAS AND DECEPTION ARE USED BY THE NEWSGATHERER David A. Elder,* Neville L. Johnson**and Brian A. Rishwain*** "There is a photographer in every bush, going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour."I "What is slander? A verdict of 'guilty'pronouncedin the absence of the accused, with closed doors, without defence or appeal, by an interestedand prejudicedjudge. ,,2 "Liars are persuaded by their own excuses to a degree that seems incredibleto others. -
Progress, Privacy, and Google Jamuna D
Brooklyn Law Review Volume 74 | Issue 1 Article 7 2008 A Computer with a View: Progress, Privacy, and Google Jamuna D. Kelley Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr Recommended Citation Jamuna D. Kelley, A Computer with a View: Progress, Privacy, and Google, 74 Brook. L. Rev. (2008). Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol74/iss1/7 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Brooklyn Law Review by an authorized editor of BrooklynWorks. A Computer with a View PROGRESS, PRIVACY, AND GOOGLE INTRODUCTION [Tihe existing law affords a principle which may be invoked to protect the privacy of the individual from invasion either by the too enterprising press, the photographer .... [or] any other modern device for recording or reproducing scenes .... [Is it the case that] any individual, by appearing upon the public highway, or in any other public place, makes his appearance public, so that any one may take and publish a picture of him as he is at the time[?] What if an utterly obscure citizen, reeling along drunk on the main street, is snapped by an 2enterprising reporter, and the picture given to the world? Is his privacy invaded? The authors of the quotations above, Samuel Warren, Louis Brandeis, and William Prosser, were not referring to the Internet when they described the increasing invasion of modem devices into personal privacy, but their words are still poignant for many citizens of a world in which novel technology seems to sprout silently, rapidly, and endlessly.